The company is using the opportunity to showcase the Audi Quattro, says Audi NZ general manager Dean Sheed.

"After 33 years of leading the world in Quattro permanent all-wheel drive technology, and with the five millionth Quattro vehicle having rolled off the assembly line this year, it makes perfect sense that Audi would lend its support to the Winter Games and the sports most closely associated with Quattro."

Sheed says that there are some powerful synergies around the partnership. "Audi is really at home in the snow. We were the first to host New Zealand's leading ice and alpine drive programme in the Southern Alps - the iconic Audi ice experience - and internationally Audi is the key sponsor of a number of winter sports events and teams in the Northern Hemisphere, so the addition of the Winter Games sponsorship here in New Zealand is hugely exciting."

Sir Eion Edgar, chairman of Winter Games NZ, said the partnership was a major boost for winter sports in New Zealand.

"Audi's sponsorship of Winter Games NZ is fantastic news, not just for the games but also for the development of winter sport in New Zealand. It enables us to achieve our objectives of profiling winter sports in New Zealand and providing our athletes and communities with a world-class event. Just as Audi pioneered the development of four-wheel-drive vehicles like the Quattro, which we all now rely on to get us safely up to the ski fields, so Winter Games NZ is breaking new ground for winter sports events in the Southern Hemisphere. The eyes of the world will be on the Audi Quattro Winter Games NZ as the best in the world come and compete for their spot at Sochi 2014 and we can't wait."